Sighing more plaintively, she set down the bowl and began to tidy up the room, a streak of sunlight falling upon the shimmering pale pink satin of Isabeau’s wedding gown in the open trunk.
Such a beautiful garment…while the coarse wool of Lisette’s tunic suddenly seemed to chafe her all the more.
Isabeau was most likely gone for a few hours to visit the church, yes?What would be the harm if Lisette enjoyed the silky comfort of such fabric against her skin—even if only for a few moments?Dare she?
Her heart beating faster, Lisette ran to the door to close it, and then turned back into the room that now seemed awash in golden light streaming from the window.
As if drawn by some unseen hand, she went to the chest and pulled out the wedding gown and laid it upon Isabeau’s bed.
A goose down mattress piled with soft blankets while her cot with its one thin blanket was pushed up against an opposite wall—no, no, she wouldn’t think right now of her half-sister’s multitude of unkindnesses and simmering jealousies!
Lisette wanted to pretend that the exquisite wedding gown was for her as she prepared to marry a man who truly loved her.A man who would never hurt her.A man who would do anything to protect and cherish her—ah, please, God, was there such a one walking the earth?
Her hands trembled as she quickly pulled her tunic over her head, tossing it to the floor, and then let the silken gown drift down over her like a gossamer pink cloud.
She wasn’t surprised at all that the garment fit her perfectly, other than being a bit too long, and she kicked off her worn leather slippers to let the cool fabric tickle her toes.
With shaking fingers she loosed her thick, waist-length hair from its braid, freshly washed last night in a basin of cold water after Isabeau had gone to sleep, and let it cascade down her back.
The sheer freedom of the moment overwhelmed her and made her twirl around in the middle of the room as Lisette laughed with delight.
She spun and spun, closing her eyes, her arms outstretched, until she felt lightheaded from the sheer joy of it and stopped to sink to her knees.
Breathless, she heard only her heartbeat pounding in her ears, her breasts rising and falling…until she froze in the next instant when she felt a draft as if the door was open.
Ah, God, no,Isabeau!
Bracing for a shriek of outrage, Lisette opened her eyes and lifted her head, only to gasp at the sight of a looming figure a few feet away from her.
Not Isabeau at all…but the tallest, most strapping friar she had ever seen in her life, reaching out his hand to her.
“Get up, woman—and dinna utter a sound or you’ll bring the whole convent down upon us.Do you understand me?”
Chapter3
Did she understand him?
She nodded, his Gaelic accent as thick as any she’d heard since arriving in Scotland, though she gasped again when he leaned down and pulled her to her feet.
None too gently, either, which suddenly filled her with alarm.
He was dressed in a dark gray habit from his hooded head to his leather shoes, but the woolen garment looked to be straining at the seams, the man was so big.She couldn’t fully see his face, either, but when she tried to break free of him, his vehement curse made her knees grow weak.
A curse?The man was no more a friar than she was a blushing bride-to-be!Lisette began to struggle in earnest, which only made the giant Scotsman clutch her all the more tightly, his tone grown exasperated as he clapped a huge hand over her mouth.
“Och, I was a fool tae think you wouldna fight me!”
Terror gripping her, Lisette saw him fumble with his free hand in a basket full of vials and bottles slung over his arm, until he grabbed one and pulled out the cork stopper with his teeth.
The next thing Lisette knew, he tilted the open vial into her mouth, a foul-tasting syrup going down her throat that made her cough and sputter.
“Forgive me, lass, but there was no help for it.I willna hurt you, I vow it.You’ll be fast asleep in a few moments—aye, it would have been easier if you hadna fought me, but I dinna blame you at all.Och, there she goes.”
The last words were out of her captor’s mouth at the same moment Lisette felt a strange warmth coursing through her that made her limbs go weak and her head to loll to one side.
Dear God, what was happening to her?
Lisette heard the man grunt with exertion as, through dimming eyes, she watched him grab from the trunk a burgundy-colored cloak made especially to complement Isabeau’s wedding gown, and wrap her in it from head to foot.Then she was the one to grunt as he hoisted her so abruptly over his shoulder that the breath was knocked from her body, everything around her growing black.
